It was an unexpected pleasure to see Harry Siemens and his lovely wife Judith at the National Farm Machinery Show last week. Harry was one of the very first contributors to AgWired with his “Siemens Says” column, starting way back in September of 2005.
He has been keeping plenty busy these days with a variety of freelance gigs sharing his Canadian commentary with audiences all over North America. “I’m in my 41st year as a farmers’ advocate in Manitoba, Canada,” he says. Among his many activities, Harry appears regularly with Max Armstrong and Orion Samuelson on RFD-TV’s ‘This Week in Agribusiness’ giving his unique Canadian perspective. He can also be heard regularly on the Linder Farm Network in Minnesota and that was how he happened to be at the NFMS this year, replacing Lynn Ketelson as the host of a bus tour for 49 Minnesotans.
Harry’s relationship with Max and Orion and Lynn goes back to 1978 when he took a trip to Minneapolis to meet the late farm broadcast legend Maynard Speece of WCCO to ask him what he could do to become a better broadcaster. “He says ‘Join the National Association of Farm Broadcasters of America,’” Harry recalls. “That fall I was at the meeting and for the next seven meetings.” And that was where he met Max and Orion and Lynn and “all the good people there.”
As a communicator, commentator and journalist, Harry has been quick to adopt new communications technology and the use of social media. He’s on Twitter and has his own blog “SiemensSays.com” where he posts regular news and commentary – like the video he did with fellow bus traveler Machinery Pete at NFMS. He says he also uses his iPhone to do interviews, take photos and shoot video.
Find out more about Harry in my interview with him from NFMS: Harry Siemens Interview
2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album
By Harry Siemens / Farmscape.ca — While those who support the Canadian Wheat Board would have producers believing the drop in barley and even wheat acres has to do with weather and other such things, but there are those who actually think it has to do with economics.
A researcher with the University of Saskatchewan told Bruce Cochrane at Farmscape.ca the main reason for recent drops in the number of acres seeded to barley in western Canada is economics.
End users of barley have expressed concern over the dwindling number of acres seeded to the crop in western Canada in recent years.
Dr. Brian Rossnagel, an oat and barley breeder with the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre, said it comes down to economics and barley just isn’t priced high enough. (more…)
With the processing and packing industry re-settling after Maple sells one plant in Ontario and closes another in the Maritimes, it also makes good sense to see what is happening in Western Canada.
Maple Leaf, and as they said they would way back when they announced their restructuring is placing most of its eggs in the Brandon, Mb plant. That is good news for producers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and to a lesser degree in Alberta, but makes good sense from a competitive position. It is also good news for Saskatchewan hog producer that the former beef plant in Moose Jaw is reincarnating into a hog processing plant, scheduled to come online in December.
All of these changes during an economic upheaval in the hog industry making it mostly positive with what is happening in the industry, at least in western Canada.
This fall, Olymel is getting questions surrounding their new Olywest 2010 Plus pricing contract. (more…)
Special Report from Harry Siemens
Feed specialists and researchers are advising Manitoba hog producers to monitor feed quality and watch the performance of their herds to avoid any problems associated with fusarium head blight-infected feed grains.
Fusarium head blight infects primarily cereal crops producing a mycotoxins that reduce end use quality of the grain.
The warm, wet growing conditions in Manitoba that helped produce a very good corn and soybeans crops did the damage to many of the cereal crops. Preliminary data shows the unusually warm wet year caused higher than normal levels of fusarium, especially in winter wheat.
Operations manager George Wieler of Delmar Commodities in Winkler, Mb said the problem for hog producers is wider-spread this year than last, especially in western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan.
“Last year we brought in low fusarium, low vomitoxian feed grains to help with the requirements here,” said Wieler. “This year it is hard to find. One drawing area we’ve had in the past is eastern and northern Saskatchewan. That is where we’ve pulled a lot of feed grains from in the past.”
This year many acres went unseeded, and the acres seeded there, the quality of the final product isn’t very good, not taking fusarium into account.
“So far, there is still enough to go around,” he said. “The question is how long will it last? When is the tap going to be tapped out to find low fusarium feed grains?” (more…)
Harry Siemens / Farmscape - North American pork producers, processors, and retailers continue to prepare for the introduction of the mandatory country of origin labeling which took affect officially on September 30, 2008.
Saskatchewan Pork Development Board policy analyst Mark Ferguson believes U.S. processors and retailers will determine the impact of the new labelling requirements on Canadian pork producers. “Although the rule is apparently a little more flexible than the previous one, it’s very similar to what the USDA introduced several years ago,” said Ferguson. “Everything filters down from the retail level.” (more…)
The Hutterite colonies in Manitoba produce close to half of the hogs in the province whether in farrow to finish operations, breeding stock, and finished hogs. It provides a good percentage of their economic livelihood, but also provides good employment for their young people.
So when the Manitoba government came up with the anti-farm Bill 17, the colonies for the first time became active in trying to convince the government not to implement the hog moratorium in two-thirds of agriculture Manitoba.
James Hofer is the barn manager at the Starlite Colony near Starbuck and a director on the Manitoba Pork council.
“This is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” said Hofer after witnessing the government pass Bill 17 in the Manitoba Legislature. “They don’t believe the farmer, the scientist, they don’t believe anybody!”
However, he said very few things are so bad, that something positive can’t come from it. In this case, it also holds true.
“If there is anything positive about this, we pushed the NDP government so long, we pushed them to the point where they exposed themselves,” said Hofer. “We were trying to expose them. They started talking and they verified it, exactly what we were saying all along. It has nothing to do with science but only politics. Would you believe in the end we wore them down to the point where they actually admitted it and said it.”
(more…)
Harry Siemens – As we come to the end of this year, several thoughts come to mind. The first is how things have changed for the main sectors in agriculture: Grain and special crops and the cattle and hog industries. Twelve months ago, the grains industry was wondering what 2007 would be like prices wise, having just come off an excellent crop year following two poor ones.
(more…)
From Laurelle, Harry, Judith, and Lynn Siemens, Winkler, Manitoba Canada:
Three of the most powerful men of their time that first Christmas focused on Jesus -
Psalm 148:11, 13 – Kings of the earth, and all people; princes , and all judges of the earth. . .Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
Here is Harry’s commentary on the hog business and a short Christmas message at the end….Harry’s Commentary
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On Day Three of my recovery from my quadruple by-pass surgery, my partner in the next bed, who was going home that day, received a visitor who had the same surgery several years back.
He looked at both us, and said, “Guys, listen up! Appreciate the fact you have just received a ‘Second Chance’. Wow what a statement and what a sobering thought. Me, a second chance – One who often took pride in developing chances and taking advantage of them, was now going to get a second chance from the hand the hand of a surgeon’s skill. (more…)
With the addition of a second shift at its Brandon, Man processing plant, Maple Leaf Foods will ramp up in slaughter capacity over the next six to eight weeks. According to Maple Leaf spokesperson Jeanette Jones, the current hog slaughter capacity of 45,000 to 50,000 hogs per week will climb to at least 75,000 per week by the end of October.
Here is Harry’s audio commentary on this issue. ss091007mav.mp3
Part of the increase in hog numbers will come as Maple Leaf continues with its stated plan to close processing facilities in other parts of the country – including its Marion Street facility in Winnipeg, which is scheduled to close Oct. 26 – and consolidate operations in Brandon.
(more…)
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Harry Siemens – There comes a time in one’s life when you have to stand up and take notice. I’m at such a point in my life right now. I found out on August 14, that three possibly four of my arteries to my heart are blocked from75 to 95 percent. That was the message Dr. Hussain gave me when I woke up after the angiogram that he had just performed at the St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Go home and take it easy because your heart is in good shape, but your arteries are not, so don’t do anything silly until we can get you an appointment with a heart surgeon. (more…)
Harry Siemens – Jim Long, President, and CEO, Genesus Genetics reports in his weekly hog letter how the hog industry is revitalizing in Russia. He and his Genesus group participated recently in the VIV Moscow trade show.
“It’s an exciting time for the Russian Pork Industry,” says Long. “After twenty years of little or no
investment in infrastructure, the levels of capital required to rejuvenate the Russian pork industry is in the billions of dollars.”
He says Russian pork production is beginning to recover in this country of 150 million people, but has to double its capacity to return to the production levels of just 10 to 12 years ago. The Russian government is stepping up with support from low interest loans and the political will for the establishment of swine production. The windfall of $60 oil and high natural gas prices is driving the Russian economy and this is creating a higher personal income. Statistics indicate Russia is one of the leading countries in the world as far as percentage of disposal income spent on meat, approximately 7.5 percent compared with the USA at about 1.5 percent. (more…)
By Harry Siemens – The Canadian International Grains Institute reports buyers of Canadian 
grain, both international and domestic, are expressing concern over increasing costs.
With the North American ethanol industry growing so rapidly, the grains industry has found it difficult to keep up with demand for both grain for fuel and grain for livestock.
CIGI Director of Feed, Dr. Rex Newkirk says the ethanol demand is driving up corn prices dramatically prompting the livestock industry to move to byproducts and other grains like barley pushing up barley prices causing the concern.
“There are always winners and losers in everything that happens and right now we’re in a fortunate position where farmers are gaining value out of the grains because of the ethanol industry,” says Newkirk. (more…)
Harry Siemens – I’m so happy to be back posting to this website and work with Chuck Zimmerman. It’s been busy working with the my own website www.SiemensSays.Com and getting the number of people reading it into real positive numbers. I’m from Canada, but live only ten minutes from the North Dakota border in Winkler, Manitoba.
This has always given me a different perspective on things between our two countries. Sometimes producers on one side of the border don’t always agree with what happens on the other side, but my message to producers on both sides of the border is that we have far bigger enemies than each other. There are those who would like to see us do away with animal agriculture and meat production as we know of it today. There are those who would like to use the environment to stifle food production and the likes. We need to point our weapons at those collective enemies and work for the common good as food producers, feeding the world with the safest, healthiest, and cheapest food around.
Here is my daily audio commentary….
From February 12 to 16, I will travel in Minnesota, speaking five times to farmer meetings as part of the Linder Farm Network Marketing and Management Series of meetings. I’m looking forward to this trip because I know listening to the Linder Farm Network has become a Minnesota tradition with farmers across the state. For almost 30 years, the Linder Farm Network has been the Voice of Agriculture in the state with information that farmers need to know to run their business successfully.
I have known Lynn Ketelsen since about 1980 when I was a full member of the NAFB in the USA attending the annual conventions in Kansas City from 1978 through 1984. Linda Brekke interviewed me recently in preparation for my speaking tour. My tentative topic, “Hands Across the Border” will cover the diversification in Canadian agriculture, issues between the two countries, and how my goal has been, and will continue to be, to foster even better relations between farmers on both sides of the border. I give a broader perspective because I don’t only know the Canadian scene, but have a good handle US agricultural polices.
You can catch my interview with Linda broken into four parts on www.SiemensSays.com and go to the heading Siemens Travels South…..
Siemens Says
The challenges facing Manitoba farmers this year going into the winter are much different from the challenges they faced last year. In 2005, many farmers had empty bins from the year before, and had little or no crop, going into the second year with empty bins. One farmer told me last year, farming used to be fun, but going into the second winter with empty bins, made that a stretch. I met him hauling beans this year, and I actually detected a slight smile on his face.
While 2004 was tough, it wasn’t near as tough as 2005. For most farmers they’re playing catch up making that challenge number 1. However, playing catch up with full bins makes life a little easier. The second challenge is the restructuring by Maple Leaf Foods that has many hog producers uneasy going into the winter. While affecting hog producers primarily, it will reach back further into the pockets of grain farmers too. Combine that with ethanol and biofuel debates and the grain and hog producers will have more quandaries to face. (more…)
In its first year of delivery, enrollment in the Assiniboine Community College’s Swine Transportation and Handling program in Brandon, Manitoba has topped 200. The College launched the program about one year ago and so far, over 200 drivers have completed the training. The course has two components, the National Pork Board’s Trucker Quality Assurance program in the United States and a Canadian component developed by the ACC.
Deanne Miller, Assiniboine Community College’s course instructor says the U.S. manual includes chapters on the drivers’ attitude, using animal behavior and natural instincts, the flight zone and point of balance, and aggressive handling. It also includes loading and unloading of pigs, the fitness of the hogs, facilities and equipment, the conditions of the truck and environment, things like space, weather conditions, transporting issues, biosecurity, laws and regulations and an emergency response plan. (more…)
(Editor’s Note: I was supposed to post this on Monday – Sorry Harry)
Thanksgiving Day in Canada, Monday, Oct. 9 is a time to celebrate. For most producers, the last two years have been tough. For some, it goes back even further than that, but with this year’s crops, for the most part, bursting grain bins at the seams, it’s time to sit back and celebrate. Yes, I know the people raising hogs are having their struggles, too, but you want to know something, keep on trucking.
Yes, I also know the prices for most commodities are low, and at today’s levels you can’t pay all the bills, even with good to great crops. However, you do have crop in the bin, this year’s growing season, except for areas having too little rain in July and August was almost ideal for putting in the crop, spraying, and for taking it off. It’s time to sit back, and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Don’t take your family for granted, and enjoy this time together. I’m not sure how you will celebrate Thanksgiving Day, but for us, there will be one empty spot at the table because our oldest daughter Lynn moved to Vancouver. That leaves Laurelle, our 13-year old, my wife Judith, and myself. (more…)
The introduction of two new vaccines has helped turn the tide in the battle in Canada to contain a potentially deadly condition that’s taken a huge toll on swineherds around the world.
Porcine Circovirus Associated Disease (PCVAD), previously called Post-weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS), is a viral disease that typically affects young pigs, weanlings, from eight to 16 weeks of age. However, symptoms tend to manifest themselves in the grower phase and the disease is often fatal. The disease, first characterized in western Canada in 1995 became widespread worldwide since then. (more…)
A swine nutritionist with the University of Guelph credits a dramatic increase in liquid byproducts from biofuel and food processing for an increased interest in liquid feeding in Ontario. With liquid feeding systems, feed is prepared in a central mixing tank then pumped through lines to individual troughs where the pigs can consume it.
While considered new in North America, countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark they feed up to 50 percent of market pigs using liquid feeding systems and in Ireland that figure is close to 90 percent. Dr. Kees De Lange told delegates to the Western Swine Nutrition Conference in Winnipeg this week, in North America the pockets of liquid feeding are in Ontario. He estimates producers raise 20 percent of the finishing pigs in southwestern Ontario on liquid feeding systems. (more…)
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In this week's program you can listen in to my conversation with Bill Howard, Fastline, about their new mobile game app, AgRacer.
